A fine Gentleman sent me these pictures of a Farmall Double A tractor.

Researching it, seems it's a homebuilt one-off.

Quote:

Twin Farmall Causes Double Takes
After seeing a couple of side-by-side tractors that other collectors made by putting two tractors together, long-time Farmall collector Clare Kerns, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, figured he could do it, too. The result is a tractor that is a real eye catcher at shows.
Kerns worked out a design that allowed him to put two A Farmalls on the same rear end and have it powered by either engine or both.
"Kerns bought two A's - one made in 1944 and the second from 1946. "Except for the year, the two tractors are identical."
The transmission and differential are offset to the right on the A. This allowed him to cut into the axle housing on the left side and attach the transmission from the second tractor. "I used the original rear axle from one of the tractors. It had a gear on the side opposite the transmission. I had that machined off and splines cut on it to match the other side, so I could attach it to the second transmission," he explains.
He centered the operator's seat and steering wheel. One clutch pedal disengages both clutches. With just one clutch pedal, he can power the tractor with either engine or both at once. He left both throttles in place. "I thought about trying to hook up one throttle so it would control the speed of both engines, but if you're using both, you can match the speeds just by listening to and matching the pitch of the engines," he says.
Kerns made use of both sets of rear wheels by mounting duals on the rear axle. "I've used it for pulling and it does pretty well. Even with the duals, it runs out of traction before it runs out of power," he says.
While either engine can be used to power the tractor, Kerns put just one battery and generator on his double tractor. "It doesn't take two batteries to run it and I didn't figure I needed the second one, nor the generator, either," he says. But he notes that if he doesn't use the engine with the generator on it, he could run down the battery.
He says he did have to beef up the front end so it would be heavy enough to hold up both tractors. And he lengthened the drawbar. Overall width of Kerns' double A is only 7 ft., even with the duals in place.

Over the years FARM SHOW has published a number of stories about the amazing tractors built by Harry Lee of Elnora, Ind. After retiring from farming, Harry built nine different one-of-a-kind tractors. Most are replicas of prototype tractors made by different tractor manufacturers. All of the tractors are in working condition.
Now 83 years old, Harry recently sent us photos of his "newest" tractor, which he did not build but which fits right in with his collection. It's a 1956 factory-built prototype from Garrett Mfg. of Enumclaw, Wash., and is called the Twin Drive 400 IHC diesel. Two tractors with identical engines mount side by side. The tractor has two transmissions, and each engine drives its own set of wheels. Harry bought the tractor in January 2002. He hauls the tractor - along with all his other home-built models - to shows throughout the U.S.
"It handles beautifully. I really enjoy driving it, especially since I built my own Farmall F-20 twin engine tractor that is somewhat similar," says Harry. "The diesel engines each have about 60 hp. At the time it was made, it was the largest farm tractor equipped with rubber tires and weighed 15,380 lbs. When I first got the tractor I used it to pull a 4-bottom plow and a 15-shank field cultivator. Now demonstrating it at shows is my full-time hobby.
"The tractor was originally owned by a Washington farmer who used it for 30 years. He estimates the tractor traveled about 96,000 miles during its career in the field. Garrett Mfg. repurchased the tractor from the sons of the original owner in 1985 and then two years ago I bought it from them. The engine was overhauled once, and the original tires were replaced after they wore out. Otherwise, it has required only routine maintenance."
To honor the original builder, Harry left the Garrett name on both sides of the tractor. "Mr. Garrett is 87 years old now but he still stays in touch with me," says Harry. "For him it's a great thrill to know his tractor is still out there in the public eye and that people recognize him as the builder. He recently sent me a check for $100 and told me to take my wife out to dinner."
Harry recently drove the tractor in a parade at the National Red Power Show in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and also demonstrated it in a tractor pull. "I did a corkscrew spin by putting one side of the tractor in reverse and the other in forward and went around and around like a doughnut. A lot of people used their video cameras to film the event. It seemed like everyone had a video camera. After the pull, one guy came up to me and said he would liked to have had all the money that was spent on video film that day. "
Lee has appeared in shows as far away as Florida and Texas. After this year he will cut back considerably.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bertha_%28howitzer%29
'A total of 12 complete M-Gerät were built; besides the two available when the war started, 10 more were built during the war.[1][10] This figure does not include additional barrels; two extra barrels were already available before the war started,[1] and possibly up to 20 barrels were built, though some sources state 18.[3] As the war ground on, several Berthas were destroyed when their barrels burst due to faulty ammunition. Later in the Great War, an L/30 30.5-cm barrel was developed and fitted to some Bertha carriages to provide longer-range, lighter fire. These weapons were known as the Schwere Kartaune or Beta-M-Gerät.[6][11]"

Whoops, I was researching the machine and took the gun info from a sidebar, my bad.
Thanks Griff, the numbers are interesting, also the description of the mobile M gun.

Oh boy, we can take it along on vacation.
Where are you going?
Any fucking place we want.

What intrigued me was the referral to the inner tube of the barrel. I'd like to know how that barrel goes together. Also, I'm pretty certain in the photograph what they are doing is forging a huge steel blank which later will be divided up into a bunch of pieces. But I still would like to know more about that machine. Why? Damifino?

Don't know how I got the picture in there all over again, maybe glatt can remove the attachment from post #36.

Foreward...
This tractor was the first one designed to use rubber tires, a huge leap forward, and 25 mph was car normal speed in Model-A days.

Quote:

In 1919 Fate joined with Root-Heath Manufacturing Company and formed Fate-Root-Heath. The new organization continued to build clay machinery, yard locomotives, and added a line of sharpening equipment for reel type grass mowers. Business was good, and the company prospered until the economic crash of 1929.

By the early 1930's orders for expensive locomotives had slowed to a trickle. In order to keep the factory doors open, Fate-Root-Heath needed a product that was cheap enough that people could afford to buy in quantity. The town of Plymouth was located in the middle of prime Ohio farm land; a farm tractor would be a natural addition to the product line. A tractor was well within the company's engineering and production capabilities. Charles Heath, general manager of the company at that time, presented the idea of building a farm tractor to get the company through the depression. An employee recalls, "Charlie was the Kingpin of the operation. When Charlie hollered, everyone jumped, from the president on down. " So Fate-Root-Heath set out to build a farm tractor.

Also, a nsfw warning woulda been nice...That one guy's plainly standing there with his tool in his hand.

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